New Delhi: India will soon provide medium-lift choppers to Tajikistan and dedicate a hospital there as part of efforts to build on the strategic ties between the two countries against the backdrop of US-led troops preparing to pull out from Afghanistan in 2014.

The 50-bed hospital would be inaugurated by Defence Minister A K Antony who is expected to visit there next month, Defence Ministry officials said.

The decision to provide the Russian-origin Mi-series choppers and build a hospital in Tajikistan were taken during the visit of its President Emomali Rahmon's visit to India last August, they said.

The hospital was airlifted by the Indian Air Force recently which would help in providing specialist care to the local Tajik population in the southern part of the country.

India had earlier also built a hospital in Tajikistan in Farkhor there in the late 90s on the Tajik-Afghan border to treat wounded Northern Alliance fighters battling against the then ruling Taliban regime.

India has also developed the Ayni airbase near the Tajik capital Dushanbe, which provided it a foothold in the Central Asian region.

India had deployed its Army and Border Roads Organisation personnel to upgrade the airbase by extending its runway, constructing an air-traffic control tower and perimeter fencing around the base.

The Ayni airbase was completed by India in 2008 after encountering minor problems there and had deployed over 100 personnel there for facilitating operations there.

Thursday, June 11, 2015Tajikistan’s Army Incapable of Defending Country Against ISIS Forces

Paul Goble

Staunton, June 11 – Many regional experts say that Tajikistan is the Central Asian country ISIS forces are most likely to attack, not only because the population is likely to be receptive to its appeals against corruption and for social justice but also because the Tajikistan army is too weak and underfunded to be able to defend against any attack.

“The present-day army of the country cannot defend its security against such a destructive force as ISIS,” Dmitry Avdeyev writes on CentrAsia.ru. “But the biggest problem is the absence of trust of the population which could rise up on the side” of ISIS against “the current powers” there (centrasia.ru/news.php?st=1433956800).

Many authoritarian regimes are able to defend themselves against foreign threats even if they are deeply unpopular at home by ensuring the funding and status of their militaries. But Dushanbe has not done either, Avdeyev points out. Its army is rated the weakest in Central Asia largely because there is little money for its strengthening.

At least some of its soldiers are likely to desert in the event of an ISIS attack given “the lack of unity and support of the citizens,” a shortcoming that reflects the growing social inequality in the country, the massive corruption at all levels, and witch hunts by the authorities against anyone they suspect of disloyalty.

The Tajikistan government is very much worried that “young people who are now fighting in the ranks of the militants in a short time will return home and bring to their motherland the idea of a war with the infidel and of the construction of a Khalifate.” The regime says that there are 144 of its citizens fighting in Afghanistan and has brought in absentia charges against them. Only 12 are currently in custody.

It isn’t clear how successful that program will be. Indeed, Avdeyev says, the impression exists that “in Tajikistan instead of struggling with problems, the authorities are geerating them and thus creating greater danger for the country. As a result, the smallest attempt to generate instability inside the country could become the beginning of the next civil war.”

The armed forces of Russia and Tajikistan used drones in their joint military drills near the Tajik capital of Dushanbe, an aide to the Central Military District’s commander, Col. Yaroslav Roshchupkin, said Monday.

He added that the drills were focused on developing a united approach to countering illegal armed groups and joint tactical operations.

n May, the Russian and Tajik armed forces also held drone drills in Tajikistan's Pamir Mountains to practice using drones against illegal armed groups in areas of high altitude.On Friday, clashes between Tajik government forces and an armed gang in the capital of Dushanbe and in the city of Vahdat, located some six miles away, left over 30 police officers and nine gang members dead.

Monday, 1 February 2016Tajik and Russian forces to craft common approach to dealing with militants

The Russian and Tajik militaries will devise a common approach to neutralizing militants in inaccessible mountainous terrain during a combined exercise in March, Col. Gen. Vladimir Zarudnitsky, commander, Central Military District, told journalists on Monday.

Russia will do its best to provide aid to the Tajik Army in the form of arms exports, Russian Deputy Defense Minister Anatoly Ivanov said during a meeting with Tajik Defense Minister Sherali Mirzo.

"Our Tajik friends and brothers have encountered new challenges and threats due to the problems emanating from Afghanistan. It is very important to us to understand what is going on there, what you are doing, and to assist the Tajik Armed Forces as much as possible by supplying arms and other materiel and providing everything necessary for increasing their combat capabilities," Antonov said.

The Russian deputy defense minister stressed that Tajikistan was a Russian priority in terms of military and military technical cooperation. "We proceed from the premise that the higher Tajikistan’s security, the higher the Russian Federation’s security," he added.

Antonov also promised that the 201st Russian Military Base stationed in Tajikistan would be used "to defend the national integrity and sovereignty of Tajikistan and, of course, CSTO as a whole," if need be.

According to the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI), Russia had supplied Tajikistan with 12 Mil Mi-8/17 (NATO reporting name: Hip) helicopters, including eight upgraded Mi-8MTVs, two Mi-24P (Hind) attack helicopters, four L-39 Albatros trainer jets and an S-125 Pechora-2M (SA-3 Goa) surface-to-air missile system with 50 V-600 missiles for it from 1993 to 2013. In addition, the handover of 12 more Mi-8/17 utility and 12 Mi-25P attack helicopters to Tajikistan was cleared in 2013.